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The Renegade Lawyer Podcast
I am more convinced than ever that nothing that traditional bar organizations are doing is going to move the needle on the sad stats on lawyer happiness ...
The root cause of all lawyers' problems is financial stress. Financial stress holds you back from getting the right people on the bus, running the right systems, and being able to only do work for clients you want to work with. Financial stress keeps you in the office on nights and weekends, often doing work you hate for people you don't like, and doing that work alone.
(Yes, you have permission to do only work you like doing and doing it with people you like working with.)
The money stress is not because the lawyers are bad lawyers or bad people. In fact, most lawyers are good at the lawyering part and they are good people.
The money stress is caused by the general lack of both business skills and an entrepreneurial mindset.
Thus, good lawyers who are good people get caught up and slowed down in bringing their gifts to the world. Their families, teams, clients, and communities are not well-served because you can't serve others at your top level when you are constantly worrying about money.
We can blame the law schools and the elites of the profession who are running bar organizations, but to blame anyone else for your own woes is a loser's game. It is, in itself, a restrictive, narrow, mindset that will keep you from ever seeing, let alone experiencing, a better future.
Lawyers need to be in rooms with other entrepreneurs. They need to hang with people who won't tell you that your dreams are too big or that "they" or "the system "won't allow you to achieve them. They need to be in rooms where people will be in their ear telling them that their dreams are too small.
Get in better rooms. That would be the first step.
Second step, ignore every piece of advice any general organized bar is giving about how to make your firm or your life better.
The Renegade Lawyer Podcast
Renegade Lawyer Marketing (Audio Book) – Chapter 1: 800-Pound Gorillas, Bots, and the Bar Association
This is Chapter 1 of the free audio edition of Renegade Lawyer Marketing (Second Edition)—only on the Renegade Lawyer Podcast.
In this chapter, Ben Glass pulls no punches as he lays out the very real threats solo and small firm lawyers face—from Big Law budgets to DIY legal tech, AI bots, shady marketers, and even state bar associations themselves.
You’ll hear:
- Why yesterday’s marketing tactics don’t work anymore
- How lead-gen platforms are stealing your clients (and selling them back to you)
- What LegalZoom, Avo, and RocketLawyer don’t want you to know
- And why the Bar isn’t coming to save you, and might be competing with you instead
This isn’t fear-mongering—it’s fact.
And it’s your call to build a business that thrives despite the noise, algorithms, and vultures.
📘 Want the book + 3 bonuses? Go to RenegadeLawyerMarketing.com
🎟️ Join us live this October at GLMSummit.com
Ben Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury and long-term disability insurance attorney in Fairfax, VA. Since 2005, Ben Glass and Great Legal Marketing have been helping solo and small firm lawyers make more money, get more clients and still get home in time for dinner. We call this TheGLMTribe.com
What Makes The GLM Tribe Special?
In short, we are the only organization within the "business builder for lawyers" space that is led by two practicing lawyers.
One thing we're sure you've noticed is that despite the variety of options within our space, no one else is mixing
the actual practice of law with business building in the way that we are.
There are no other organizations who understand the highs and lows of running a small law firm and are engaged in talking to real clients. That is what sets GLM apart from every other organization, and it is why we have had loyal members that have been with us for two-decades.
Hey everyone, this is Ben Glass and welcome back to the Renegade Lawyer Podcast. This is another in this series of turning the Renegade Lawyer Marketing Book, volume 2, second Edition, into an audio product. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go and search in your podcast app to go see the initial introduction to this project. If you don't already have the book, go to renegadelawyermarketingcom. You get the book for free, you pay the postage and we've got three cool bonuses. Also, if you are not yet signed up for the Great Legal Marketing Summit, where we have special guest Dan Kennedy, along with a whole bunch of terrific AI and digital marketing speakers Certainly one of our best events ever In October, go to GLMSummitcom.
Speaker 1:Okay, now on to chapter one of Renegade Lawyer Marketing 100-pound gorillas, venture capitalists, vultures, invisible bots and the Bar Association Threats to solo and small firm lawyers. The threats to the solo and small firm lawyer are all around us and yesterday's responses won't do. Even though you may be a good lawyer who's delivering excellent legal services in a highly ethical way, marketing your law firm to today's highly skeptical and better informed consumer is more challenging than it has ever been before. The advertising you spent your hard-earned money on two days ago to get the message out, landed on deaf ears because your next client didn't have his accident, find out her spouse was cheating on her or get arrested for DUI. Until yesterday, two days ago, your message didn't register with their brains and the thousands of other messages they were inundated with that day because they didn't have a legal need then. If you don't have squirrels running through your attic right now, you didn't hear the pest control ad on the radio this morning either. Here's the problem. Your next clients are bombarded with marketing messages of all types and they have more choices than ever in terms of how and when they'll consume marketing media, including yours.
Speaker 1:Will I be watching traditional TV while scanning two other devices, reading a print newspaper binge, watching the newest streaming series or searching for you on the internet? If they go to the internet, the simple question used to be which browser to use. Now you also have to predict which device they prefer and whether they'll even be on a traditional internet versus spending most of their time on TikTok or Instagram. They will likely visit 10 or more legal websites when they conduct searches, and they might start on YouTube rather than a traditional search engine. Some will find the answer they seek without ever clicking on a law firm's website. The level of sophistication of many law firm YouTube channels has grown extraordinarily, and let me just note here that this chapter was largely written before AI took over the world, a brief two years ago, and so today. Now you're also trying to figure out how do I show up in the AI summaries and the AI recommendations that someone gets if they're using even a traditional search engine, let alone if they're going directly to ChatGPT or Perplexity or someplace like that to get their information.
Speaker 1:Every market area, and a handful of them, dominate the advertising media. These 800-pound gorillas often spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a month on the internet paid advertising, including Facebook, tiktok and other social media advertising, tv, radio, billboards and buses. At first glance, they seem to be everywhere. The internet itself has advertising not only from real law firms, but also from lead capture sites set up by non-lawyers who spend tons of money on keyword advertising only to sell the leads to the highest bidder. One recent Facebook ad even promised a guaranteed recovery for personal injury clients, and now today I'm sure you've seen the ads. The ad is like you don't need a lawyer, just fill out our AI bot widget and you'll get your money in 30 days. Of course, these are all just lead gen for lawyers, so they're lying. Actually, they're risking their licenses. In my view, on top of that cringeworthy guarantee, you'll find follow me advertising that will keep showing a law firm ad to a searcher for 90 days or longer after the searcher has visited a law firm website. This is actually one of the most effective things you can do in the digital marketing space is retargeting someone who has come to your website but not completed an action, such as calling the number on the website or filling out a form or engaging in your chatbot.
Speaker 1:The fight to be noticed on the web is fierce. As Google keeps testing and changing its algorithms, lawyers and other advertisers find that search engine optimization SEO is almost a full-time job in itself. If you're running your own paid ads, then that's another full-time job, isn't it? Tactics that worked six months ago to secure a spot at the top of search results may now be punishing your site, while the firm that launched a site a week ago may be at the top of the search engine results, at least for now. Ago may be at the top of the search engine results, at least for now.
Speaker 1:Legal tech funding was $725 million in 2023. Why? Because your next prospect will bypass their traditional lawyer route completely, opting instead to try self-help, the DIY approach at LegalZoom, rocket, lawyer, findlaw, legalshield, evo or any of a dozen other do-it-yourself legal sites. Yes, these things still exist and people still go to them. Tech funding is working to hide you and your firm.
Speaker 1:According to a 2021 Gallup poll, only 46% of US adults have a will, but do the other 54% have theirs drafted by an attorney? A 2020 survey by Caringcom found that 32% of Americans with a will used a lawyer, 26% used an online legal service. Of Americans with a will used a lawyer, 26% used an online legal service and 42% created theirs through some other means, such as a DIY method. The same survey revealed that younger adults, ages 16 to 34, were more likely to use online services compared to adults 65 or older. With the growth of the internet and its DIY usage in all realms of life, americans have online options for drafting their last will and testament without a lawyer Online willmaking services. Many Americans use an online platform to create their wills.
Speaker 1:Now let me ask you this Do you think your bar association is there to protect your small practice? It says it is, but like most of what bar associations say, it's kind of bullshit. One morning lawyers here in Virginia woke up to find one of the local bar associations itself sending direct mail on bar association letterhead to DUI arrestees. The letters told recipients not to hire any out-of-town lawyers and even went so far as to suggest that local lawyers could get better results in front of the local judges. Imagine if you said that in your advertising. You're competing with LegalZoom does over $600 million in revenue with over 1 million transactions in 2023, for $213 million in sales and marketing spend in 2023. You're also competing with private equity firms that own, for example, nolo and Avvo.
Speaker 1:The marketing vultures those selling you the next purple pill to save you and your practice from destruction from these threats prey on your lack of knowledge about marketing. They fill your email inbox and LinkedIn profiles with pitches to get new leads through their quote, proprietary quote, pay-per-click schemes that they are offering. To quote one exclusive firm, close quote yours. Yeah right. Their slick presentations promise the one-step solution to your problem by their services. The problem is nothing as challenging as marketing. A law practice can be solved in one step.
Speaker 1:This book is the answer to every small law firm's growth challenges. There is an answer, and that answer is not to keep doing what got you where you are now. How well you respond to these threats will determine your family's financial future and your own happiness, which we've already determined is primary. Improving your marketing is the greatest way you can leverage your time and capital. Lawyers who understand this take the science of marketing seriously. They realize the quickest path to making more money and building a more fulfilling practice is through new client acquisition, and they devote time, energy and money to being the best marketers in town, and they're proud of what they do.
Speaker 1:Again, telling your story is an act of service. Don't let someone wander into another law firm when that experience and that delivery of legal service would not be as good as what you can deliver. Moreover, these lawyers, their marketing, doesn't embarrass them, their families or their profession. While educational opportunities for becoming a better lawyer abound, most lawyers spend little time, money and energy on developing the most important skillset any lawyer could have how to acquire clients and get them to evangelize for you.
Speaker 1:Again, over 83% of the dollars that come to Ben Glass Law come because we have evangelists out there who are giving people our name, and the journey starts with a human being giving them my name, brian's name, or the law firm's name. So you're in the right place. Keep on reading, and in the next chapter, chapter two, we'll talk about two big mistakes that lawyers make. That's it. I hope you're enjoying this audio product, which is being delivered free to you. Again, if you do not have a copy of the book, you know where to go readyatlawyermarketingcom, and we hope to see you in October at our summit.
